Much has been made of efforts by the Biden administration, with a complicit press at its side, to destroy former President Donald Trump, but the MAGA King isn’t the only political opponent targeted by the incumbent Democrat’s maintenance machine.
It’s easy to forget that another Democrat is challenging President Biden, because, according to Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), he’s been blackballed by the liberal mainstream media.
If you’re asking “Dean Who?”, please allow me to introduce myself.pic.twitter.com/ipdBOb0MGh
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) December 22, 2023
“I’m appalled,” Phillips told Politico’s senior editor, Michael Schaffer. “I’m disappointed. I’m disgusted that professionals who ostensibly have committed their entire careers to sharing truth and to providing facts and to sharing information with American voters … are fundamentally avoiding their responsibilities.”
“Phillips is on the phone from icy New Hampshire, where he’s currently running 60 or so points behind President Joe Biden in Democratic primary polls. But he may as well be calling from the sidewalk outside MSNBC’s Capitol Hill studio, watching the fancy guests come and go, hoping in vain for Chris Hayes or Joy Reid or Jen Psaki to bring him in from the cold,” writes Shaffer. “Phillips shouldn’t count on being ushered inside for hot cocoa anytime soon.”
CNN has all but ignored Phillips, as have the big Sunday news shows.
“He’s been on CNN a handful of times,” according to Shaffer, “but never given the town-hall treatment afforded fellow single-digit candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie, both of whom happen to have challenged Donald Trump rather than Biden.”
“Right media has been more than invitational,” Phillips said.
They “deploy him,” according to Shaffer, “as a way of tweaking the Democrats.”
“I don’t think there’s an MSNBC viewer that even knows that I’m a congressman,” Phillips continued, “because what’s being portrayed is designed to prevent that education.”
(Video: YouTube)
“The Minnesota congressman attributes the cold shoulder to influence from a Biden campaign that he accuses of using access to pressure the media into blackballing an opponent,” writes Shaffer. “He says it points to something undemocratic at the heart of the Democratic Party.”
“I do know of specific cases where representatives of the Biden campaign have been very clear to others about trying to not attend events of mine, to not support me, and to not platform me,” Phillips revealed, though he stopped short of naming names. “It is almost antithetical to democratic principles, which include debate, deliberation and ultimately compromise.”
Biden campaign spokesperson TJ Ducklo responded to the accusation with three letters: LOL.
CNN pointed to seven bookings with the Congressman since he launched his campaign, two of which Phillips said were canceled.
“MSNBC declined comment,” Shaffer notes.
The Politico editor was sympathetic to Phillips’ plight and warned that it is indicative of a larger problem in Washington.
Writes Shaffer:
I know, I know: Griping about insufficient coverage is an old standby of trailing candidates — just as it’s pretty standard for leading candidates to lobby media to ignore those pesky small fries.
But I think Phillips’ complaint is worth taking seriously — not for what it says about anyone’s campaign tactics, but for what it says about the information ecosystem of today’s Washington.
There is, he argued, blatant hypocrisy afoot.
Speaking hypothetically, Shaffer imagines a scenario in which “someone like [Republican Rep.] Adam Kinzinger, who was then in his fifth term representing Illinois” was running against Trump.
“And even though the polls are awful and the Beltway pros give him no chance, he’s out there making the rounds in Iowa and New Hampshire,” Shaffer writes. “In this scenario, is the challenger ignored or given short shrift in the press?”
“Of course not!” he stated. “The liberal-oriented media would be full of tributes to his courage and independence. If conservative outlets declined to give him airtime, it would be held up as evidence of their pathetic Trump fealty.”
Also at play, according to Phillips, is Americans’ appetite for “conflict.”
“I’m just afraid that the market is no longer interested in anything that’s not deeply provocative,” he said. “I could be very well known by being a total jerk. It’s not my style.”
From zero to 26% in NH in just 9 weeks. Change is coming, and we’re just getting started! pic.twitter.com/jHMZGPppzW
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) January 13, 2024
According to Shaffer, however, “we’ve evolved a system with less open conflict, not more.”
“Where people once tuned in for politics-as-Thunderdome,” he writes, “a polarized audience is now apt to worry about airing their side’s dirty laundry.”
Phillips maintained that Biden’s chances for a second term are more “precarious” than people realize.
“There’s a story there that is literally being denied to the entire population, because they’re being deluded into believing that Joe Biden is just fine,” he said. “And I will tell you from our own research, in every market we’ve been, people don’t know how precarious Joe Biden’s reelection chances are.”
The Minnesotan said he has been denied “any platform whatsoever” to inform the public.
“It’s gravely disappointing, particularly as a Democrat who wants to see us succeed,” Phillips said. “And what has resulted is the ceding of hundreds of hours of primetime TV to the GOP, with not any Democratic answer, energy, debate, conversation or excitement. And that alone is a massive disservice to Democrats broadly across the country.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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